The independent Ukrainian Air Force was officially established on 17 March 1992. It inherited 944 former Soviet aircraft, making it the second largest air force in Europe. With a variety of exotic combat aircraft types, including the last operational Yak-28s and Su-15s in the world, the Ukrainian Air Force became of immediate interest to both aviation enthusiasts and air defense analysts.
In the mid-2000s the country's aircraft repair plants inaugurated upgrades to enhance the combat readiness of the aircraft and helicopters of the force, however, financial problems still led to a decline in combat strength. In 2014, when the territorial disputes on the Crimean Peninsula became a full-scale war with pro-Russian separatists, the Ukrainian Air Force had a fleet of 66 operational-ready planes in service. These were used in interdiction and close air support missions and during the war approximately 14 aircraft were lost.
Guardians of Ukraine provides a detailed look on the organization and combat strength of the air force's aircraft and helicopters. Drawing on a wide range of previously unseen photographs, supplemented by specially commissioned color artworks, Guardians of Ukraine presents all types of combat, transport and training aircraft, as well as helicopters previously or currently operated by the Ukrainian Air Force.
Language
Place of publication
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 302 mm
Width: 215 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-1-902109-61-9 (9781902109619)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Starting his career in 2005 by the means of anonymously writing articles about the history of the Iranian Air Force for Iranian websites, Babak Taghvaee soon became an aviation journalist, book author, historian and photojournalist by publishing his articles in English and German aviation magazines such as AirForces Monthly and Combat Aircraft in 2008 and 2009 respectively. He then co-authored his first book about the Iranian Air Force in 2010. In 2011, he became one of two supervisors of the Iranian Air Force's historical research project 'Historical Identity of IRIAF' to document the history of the force and to write books about the subject. In the same year, he was invited by one of the Iranian defence companies to work as civilian innovator and advisor of the Iranian Air Force's aircraft upgrade projects while he was a student in two Iranian universities (as well as a journalist for several Iranian aviation magazines). Since 2013, he has written almost 100 articles, news reports and three books about the Iranian civil and military aviation industries and the Russian and Ukrainian Air Forces, as well as the air war against the ISIL in the British, French, Greek and Russian world's leading military aviation magazines while he was living in exile.
